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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24899560">Collection of my ocs story</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Truly_Morgan/pseuds/Truly_Morgan'>Truly_Morgan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Amputation Mentioned, Assassins &amp; Hitmen, Demons, Detectives, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Frenemies, Gen, Healing Character, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Slice of Life, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Suicide Attempt, forced injection, mobster, past sexual abuse on teenager</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:26:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,689</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24899560</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Truly_Morgan/pseuds/Truly_Morgan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of one-shot made around my own original characters. Summaries of stories one page 1.<br/>I know ao3 folks don't really read original stuff, but I still wanted to try and post it here anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.<br/>Hope you enjoy my characters.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>[please do read the trigger warning at the beginning of the stories, some have them]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Stories summary</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As mention in the summary of the work, this is only a collection of small stories I make with my characters. Some might have second parts, but it never happened up until now, so we will see.</p><p>This first page will be containing all my stories summaries, so if you want to go to one specifically you can go through it, otherwise, I guess just go for it and read them all :)</p><p>Some are really old text <strike>(at least in my opinion)</strike> I finally translated really recently, so the story might not be that great, I'll leave a note from around when this came from (as my characters have evolved and my skill too). But I have some unfinished works that are older and since I try posting in a “chronological” order the already poster order might change until I either finished or translated the ten from before 2020.</p><p>If you get to like my characters I post about them on my Tumblr [ truly-morgan ] which host the same stories + some art of them and Instagram [ truly_morgan ] where I post art and my work-on-progress in designing them.</p><hr/><p> </p><p><b>Inseparable</b> [chap 2]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Evan Matsui ; Ethan Matsui<br/><em>Ethan and Evan are staying the night at some relative's house for a family event. Due to their closeness and the feeling of safety around each other, they share a bed, to the incomprehension of their family. </em><br/><br/></p><p><b>The first meeting</b> [chap 3]</p><p>Characters: Yashiro ; Koseki<br/><em>Yashiro finds an odd egg in the swamp near the village, unsure if it still alive or not. Turn out, he did good by bringing it back.</em></p><p> </p><p><b>When love seems too far</b> [Chap 4]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Frederick Wilson ; Stanley Murphy<br/><em>Soulmarks appear once you hit 18, something many are waiting for for many years. Stanley was also like that, a little more traditional on the idea, he wanted to find who his soulmate was. At the end of the day, his hopes die pretty quickly when he saw his mark. </em></p><p> </p><p><strong>Game of cat and mouse</strong> [chap 5]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Tamir ; Kadir<br/><em>Kadir is chasing after Tamir, never able to catch him. But this time! This time he's sure he will do it.</em></p><p> </p><p><b>Night visitor</b> [chap 6]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Samuel Roy ; Michael Drake<br/><em>Micheal is woken up in the middle of the night by some visitor. Turn out, his best friend is paying him a nightly visit, but not for the reason he would like to.</em></p><p> </p><p><b>We are back... sorry for the delay</b> [chap 7]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Jack Auchter ; Matthew Slenberg ; Yannis Dukas<br/><em>Jack receives unexpected guests. Yet he's not unhappy of the unexpected, nothing could have made him more overjoyed than that moment he opens the door and saw who was there.</em></p><p> </p><p><b>The shock</b> [chap 8]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Evan Matsui ; Kuro<br/><em>Evan gets a worrying call from his brothers and when he finally finds him it too late to do anything. His world falls apart. </em></p><p> </p><p><strong>Good Samaritan</strong> [chap 9]</p><p><span class="u">Characters: Koseki ; Dai ; Yashiro<br/></span> <em>A group of travellers stop at the edge of the town, one of them catch the attention of the impressionable children. The man day brightens quickly when he meets a joyful young man.</em></p><p> </p><p><strong>The wedding</strong> [chap 10]</p><p>
  <span class="u">Character: Koseki ; Genji ; Yamamoto</span>
  <br/>
  <em>A wedding is supposed to be a good and joyful day, yet despite it all, Koseki cannot stop themself from crying.</em>
</p><p> </p><p><b>First contact</b> [chap 11]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Joshua Anderson ; Alex Murphy ; Viktor Loukov</p><p>
  <em>The first didn't even seem to like America, was noisy, annoying and always making trouble. The second didn't even speak English the first time he was in the class and was not acting like the other boys. The last one was a Tomboy who didn't talk much and was trying to be forgotten in the back of the class. They never interacted with each other before that one group project, all the other kid not wanting them in their team, the teacher putting them together. It took some time, but they finish by getting along, soon being the trouble trio. </em>
</p><p> </p><p><b>When thing aren't as usual pt1</b> [chap 12]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Tamir ; Kadir<br/><em>The two demons are fighting just as they usually do. This time, something seems wrong on Tamir's side, but Kadir can't tell what.</em></p><p> </p><p><b>Unexpected information</b> [chap 13]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Jasper Hyde ; Daniel Landry<br/><em>Our little detective is strolling through the park and help a little girl, only to find out with surprise who is her dad: none other than a gangster he ran into a couple of time.</em></p><p> </p><p><b>He fucked up</b> [chap 14]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Akainu Fuyuda ; Kyosuke Hamada<br/><em>Kyosuke snap. Akainu knows it's his own fault.</em></p><p> </p><p><b>Cheesy pickup line</b> [chap 15]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Haru Sasaki ; Hayato Seta ; Masahiko Ezura<br/><em>Hayato as a crush on a girl, but he's bad at flirting.</em></p><p> </p><p><b>Nightmare brings revelation</b> [chap 16]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Alexy Leblanc ; Kassandra Roy<br/><em>Alexy is woken up from his nightmare by Kassandra. It has been a common thing since he came to live with her family after his father died. The dead man is always the main villain of the nightmare, replaying old abuse. Though, that night, she didn't expect to learn that physical and mental abuse were not the only thing his friend went through.</em></p><p> </p><p><b>Coffee and hot cocoa on a rainy night</b> [chap 17]</p><p><span class="u">Characters:</span> Samuel Roy<br/><em>Samuel was only doing his job when he miscalculated some things and end up stuck with a kid in his target house. He simply wants to leave the kid to an orphanage, but the small child seems to have another idea.</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Inseparable</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ethan and Evan are staying the night at some relative's house for a family event. Due to their closeness and the feeling of safety around each other, they share a bed, to the incomprehension of their family.</p>
<p>(written in 2016)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The two brothers were finishing to prepare themselves to go to bed. Evan was the first to go to bed, somehow waiting for his twin to come and join him in it. Sure, in the room there were two beds, but they had the habit of sleeping in the same bed, so the other one was mostly useless.</p>
<p>And just as he though, Ethan came to his bed, laying on his side and facing him, offering him a smile.</p>
<p>They were used to sleeping in the same bed since Ethan never liked to leave his brother to the mercy of the demon. At more than one occasion he was reprimanded for not staying in his own room, but at some point, the adults had just given up on trying to make him do so.</p>
<p>Even once they were at their uncle place, with a room for each of them, they were nearly always finishing both in one of the two rooms. Ethan knew that the demon was making his brother sleep a real nightmare and he, at some point, figured out that sleeping with him was actually helping him be more appeased in his sleep. That's how he manages to save his brother from a night with really bad sleep or from straight-up insomnia.</p>
<p>That was probably something that could be explained by this link between the two twins. Kuro was giving up the idea of tormenting him when Ethan was blocking everything seemingly without knowing it. Why not going directly for Ethan then? The two brothers had no idea. In reality, Kuro somewhat took a liking for the twin of his vessel, he was nice towards even him, which no one in the Matsui family had ever done. For that reason, it wasn't to his own pleasure that he would go after Ethan.</p>
<p>It only after half an hours of talking in the dark of the night that the two brothers finally fell asleep. Ethan was wrapped in Evan's arms as if it was simply natural for him. They were both looking peacefully asleep, as if nothing would be able to disturb their sleep.</p>
<p>Only a couple of minutes went by before the door open, letting a ray of light into the darkness of the bedroom. That way, one of their aunt was proving to her cousin that the twins were together in the same bed. Clearly, many were not understanding why they were this attached to one another, especially on Ethan side.</p>
<p>“They are already 17, why are they sleeping in the same bed? Especially since he's the demon's seal” asked the cousin, not really familiar with the two of them.</p>
<p>"No one gets it" admitted the aunt with a sigh, "anyway, it's not as if they were doing something bad either" she pointed out.</p>
<p>“Maybe he feels liable that he took his place?”</p>
<p>“Who knows? We never really understood the twins”</p>
<p>It wasn't really the reason, if they were to ask Ethan, he would simply respond something along the line of "He's my brother right? Why should I abandon him?". Also, since Evan was an outcast of the family because of the demon, Ethan only wanted to take care of him even more.</p>
<p>Few seem to understand or to even try to understand it. Both of them never really cared about it. After all, they were doing nothing bad, only being close to one another.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>There's a lot of context missing for it being really understandable, here a really short and sweet explanation: their family had to deal with a demon in the past and managed to seal him. But to do so they need to sacrifice someone to be the sealing vessel, but they also treat pretty coldly and outcast that person. </p>
<p>I had some bullshit point to have to be selected for the seal which was being sweet happy and nice (basically Ethan) because they believed it would counter the demon energy or some shit like that. Evan knew how Kuro could destroy someone as he had seen the old seal and he took his brother place. </p>
<p>I was inspired by fruit basket for some part of the family working, but also by a set of characters story a friend I had at the time had. Obviously I'm still working on making it better and more coherent as it was pretty weak and simple in the past</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The first meeting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Yashiro find an odd egg in the swamp near the village, unsure if it still alive or not. Turn out, he did good by bringing it back.</p><p>(unfinished from 2016<br/>+2021)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yashiro was coming back to the village after a few hours of hunting. He entered the tree that served of entry to their underground village. He didn't lose time before finally arriving at his home. The young man entered the small house, putting on the table the product of his hunt and his bag.</p><p>He decided that he would take care of his hunt later, his attention quickly going on his bag. Inside, an egg resembling the ones from his specie. At least, in a state more or less good. The egg's shape was modified by a plant who had decided it would grow there. Plus, the size was a little smaller than the average one.</p><p>Yashiro didn't really know why he picked it up, especially in the swamp, the climate wasn't really good for an egg. He didn't even know if the baby was still alive. Although, his first thought wasn't about that, but rather who would leave an egg there and why? Even by forgetting the climate, it was to say predators weren't great either, it was lucky to not have been attacked.</p><p>Normally, he shouldn't have brought it back, otherwise, he should have gone and seen the council. Though, in a certain way, he was a little scared that they decide not to take care of it because of its state. After all, it was hard to say whether or not it was still alive. He preferred to wait and see, rather than abandon before knowing.</p><p>He then took an old basket, putting the egg in with a blanket to keep it a little warm and in safety. After making sure it was placed in a secure spot, he went back to work, which was taking care of the product of his hunt and sorting what he was keeping, would be throw away and what he would use to trade.</p><p>▼</p><p>
  <em>A couple of days later...</em>
</p><p>Yashiro was yet again back from hunting, going to check the egg when he was all settled. Once in front of the basket, he panicked a little. It was now cracked and seemed as if it had hatched. Yet, no trace from the newborn. He then turned, looking around where it could have gone. It took him a little while before finally directing his eye towards something that had moved near his bed.</p><p>The young hunter then went to look, hoping it was indeed the little one. He had to move his bed to finally be able to find him, hidden between his bed and the corner of the wall. Yashiro made sure not to make any sudden movements, not wanting to scare him.</p><p>He was able to look at him, now that he wasn't running away. The young man was able to see it was a young boy, which would most likely make his job easier since he knew how it was going. Clearly, the young boy was scared of him, seeing how he was shaking.</p>
<hr/><p>Yashiro ended up sitting down in front of the newborn, unsure as to what he should be doing now. Yes, he had taken in the egg in the hope it wasn't dead, but he wasn't old enough to take care of someone as dependant as a baby. Plus he wasn't exactly known to be the best with kids, they were rather loud and demanding often.</p><p>He sighed, looking around the room, unsure as to what he could do to make the baby less scared of him. The situation he had put himself in was already hard enough, if he could at least make the little one not scared of him it would be great. He sighed again when he turned back, seeing the newborn still looking at him with large eyes.</p><p>After a couple of try at approaching his hand with no success, he stood up, going back to the basket, taking out the eggshell, changing the blanket for a clean one and going back towards the corner. He gently put the makeshift bed on the floor, sliding it gently towards the small form, frightening him by accident.</p><p>"At least keep yourself warm in this," he said, unsure he would be understood. He stayed a little longer, trying to see if the little one would get in. After a couple of minutes, he gave up, getting back up and ready to get back to work. No one else would take care of the meat he had brought back if he didn't do it and he needed what could be traded with it.</p><p>He checked back from time to time, always without much change. He truly had decided to bring a lot of trouble for himself here.</p><p>Once he was done he hesitated about going out right now but figured it wouldn't be a real problem. The little one had been out since who knows when and didn't have any trouble, so it should be alright, right? Plus he wouldn't be out for long.</p><p>He still decided to leave some fruit puree next to the makeshift bed before leaving, since he assumed the little one would be hungry, but couldn't leave him anything that could be a choking hazard.</p><p>He then went to go and trade what he had from his hunt, trying to get things that could also be useful for the new fella in his home. He was a little frustrated from taking as long as he did, really the old lady could have stopped questioning him earlier about his "strange" trading today. He was tired from coming back late and arguing with her wasn't on his to-do list today.</p><p>Once he was back he put everything on the table, figuring he would just put everything in place later. He went to check the corner, a little smile growing on his face when he saw the little one sleeping in the basket, the fruit puree half-eaten. At least he was sure he would be alright for a little while.</p><p>He then decided to go to sleep, despite his bed still moved from where it usually was, not daring to move the basket.</p><p>When he woke up the next day, he found the newborn sleeping in his bed, all rolled up in the blanket. Well, at least it seemed like the little fella would get used to him quickly, maybe it wouldn't be as troublesome as he thought.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So this is a very old "chapter" I had written as to describe how Yashiro and Koseki had met. I tried keeping the text as loyal to the original in french, just to show how it was written. The second half (after the line) of it was written by me today, just so the story could at least have an end and not just end abruptly. Am not exactly satisfied with how I ended it, but at least it is now kind of finished.</p><p>To clear the confusion: They are both from a species I created called subterra, a type of small creature living generally underground, inside trees or inside the rock of mountains. Despite working with them for the past 5 years, I still don't really have a full-on description of how these creatures live, as I mostly work with these character in alternative universes or just doodle them.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. When love seems too far</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Soulmarks appear once you hit 18, something many are waiting for for many years. Stanley was also like that, a little more traditional on the idea, he wanted to find who his soulmate was. At the end of the day, his hopes die pretty quickly when he saw his mark.</p>
<p>(written in 2017)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Stanley was waking up from this after-party, happy that he wasn't feeling too sick, though he could have been feeling better too. Frederick had dragged him around for a tour of bars, as a celebration for his 18 birthday. The young man was also excited to see what his best friend soulmark would look like, but throughout the night they never check if it finally had gotten out. After all, they had discovered Frederick one a couple months ago and they were now waiting to see his.</p>
<p>Stanley got a little excited as he remembered he now had his own mark. He got up, going for the mirror in the room to help him look for it, knowing it could be in hard to notice as they could be small or even just placed somewhere hard to see. So he took off his shirt first, finding it quick easily and quickly, as it was placed on his torso.</p>
<p>At first, he had been struck in place when he saw it, surprised and a little shocked too. Just a little to the right of his heart, a small blue marine flower was marking his pale skin. His finger went and touched it as if to make sure it was really there, a weird mixture of happiness and sadness coming to him after the discovery.</p>
<p>He had always heard that it could be really hard to find their soulmate sometime, but Stanley already knew who was his soulmate. It was none other than his own best friend. The idea was sounding a little depressing to him. It wouldn't have been if it hadn't been Frederick. He wasn't a bad guy, that wasn't the problem, but he was a total playboy and didn't really care about soulmates.</p>
<p>He tried to do his morning routine, thinking about the whole situation. Should he show it to Frederick? After all, in his mind, he knew there were no chances for him to give up his frivolous life to settle down for something he had never believed in. He really had no idea what to do with this new discovery and time wasn't something he had to think about it, since he had to prepare to go and join his best friend for diner in only a couple hours.</p>
<p>Time had flown by quickly and in the end, he still didn't know what to do. Now, he was sitting in a small family restaurant they both enjoyed, still not knowing if he should tell him or not. Stanley had finished giving out his order to the waiter when he turned back to Frederick, the young man look expectantly at him. It was written all over his face what he was waiting for.</p>
<p>“How was it this morning? Not too sick I hope” asked Frederick with a chuckle, clearly restraining from jumping on the subject directly.</p>
<p>“Could have been better” admitted Stanley with a sigh, “But not the worst either, I've had worst in the past years”.</p>
<p>“At least I didn't drove you sick then” laughed the young man, still relieve that his best friend hadn't been sick because of all their drinking. He would have felt a little guilty otherwise, Stanley wasn't as experience with alcohol as he was. "Now, let get to what I want to know~" he smirked.</p>
<p>His first response was Stanley playing dumb as if he didn't know what he was talking about. Frederick then insisted a little, mentioning he knew very well what he was talking about. The young man couldn't contain the small sigh that came to him, of course he knew what his best friend wanted to talk about. Anyway, he couldn't really show it right here and there, so he could still just hide it for now. Of course, he knew he wouldn't be able to hide it forever, but for now, it was his plan.</p>
<p>"Sadly I got an ugly one" he lied, "Yours is way prettier than mine" he said. It was stupid to say, yet he was half admitting his was also pretty, even if Frederick didn't know.</p>
<p>"Well, I can't agree with you if I haven't seen it, can I?" pointed out the young man with an arched brow. Really, what was it with his friend suddenly?</p>
<p>"I can't show you right now" simply responded Stanley. Frederick understood after some time, "Oh, it's in a risky place to show in public" he suggested, gaining a nod from his friend, "Well too bad, we can do that later, I'll surely end up seeing it".</p>
<p>There was an awkward pause from Stanley side, not really affirming it would happen. Frederick didn't really notice it, only going forward with the conversation. "Anyway, are you going to look for your soulmate now?" he asks out of curiosity.</p>
<p>"I don't know" admitted his friend "Now that I've thought about it, it could be really hard to find them, maybe they aren't even in this country, or I already missed them" he tried to explain.</p>
<p>Frederick was stunned by his answer. Was he really speaking with his best friend right now or did some alien took his place? “Hey, where has gone my Stan who is more traditional and absolutely wanted to find his soulmate to leave a classic happy ending?”.</p>
<p>"He thought about it and understood it's not always possible" he responds with a small smile, some sadness seeping in it.</p>
<p>The playboy was really surprised by the sudden pessimism of his friend, he was normally so optimistic on nearly everything, especially this kind of stuff. What kind of existential thinking did he go through once he left him the night before for him to change his mind so drastically?</p>
<p>He didn't really have the time to ask more about it as their food finally arrived and Stanley took this opportunity to change the subject completely. In his mind, Frederick would give up at some point, while on the other side, said young man was thinking that he would get back to it later.</p>
<p>After that, a couple of weeks went by and because of work schedule, they didn't meet that often. In that time, it was a battle between Stanley always finding a way to change subject or reason not to show him and Frederick trying to find out and being confused in face of this obstinate demeanour.</p>
<p>Why would his best friend not show him? Had he ever said something that would make him restrain from showing Frederick? The first thing the day after his own birthday it what they checked together, so why not this time? Was it really that ugly? Was he embarrassed about his mark as one would be of an ugly tattoo?</p>
<p>He got his keys and look for his best friend apartment one, having messaged him about coming to visit, since they were finally both on a day off. He really wanted to know and his patience was starting to run out, especially when he felt his best friend was hiding something big from him.</p>
<p>He was greeted by a small ball of fur who kept on rubbing against his leg until he patted it, going for its owner who greeted him from the leaving room. "Are you staying for diner?" asked Stanley as he was putting down a book he was reading, finally turning towards his friend. "Are you okay? Did something happen, why do you look so serious".</p>
<p>Frederick gave him a small smile, even if it didn't have the same warmth and charm it normally had. "Oh nothing, just that my best friend seems to be hiding something from me and that is starting to worry my and play on my patience" he responded as he was approaching the canape.</p>
<p>"Fred, I already told you, there nothing nice to-" tried to lie the young man before being suddenly cut by his friend. "I don't fucking care!" he exclaimed while stopping in front of Stanley, "In the past weeks I felt like you've been hiding something important from me and I fucking hate that. I feel like my best friend is suddenly pushing me away and I don't fucking gets why!".</p>
<p>Stanley stayed silent, a little shocked. Frederick sure didn't mind cursing and was often doing it, but he always refrains from cursing at him. His friend was waiting for an answer from him, yet he couldn't give one, only avoiding eye contact with him.</p>
<p>Then, Frederick mumbles something Stanley didn't quite catch at first and when he finally understood it was a little too late to correctly react in time. His friend went for it, trying to pin him on the canape, both fighting for either keeping his shirt down or up. At some point Frederick managed to pin both of his hands above his head, surprising Stanley with the force he was using, also straddling his hips so he wouldn't kick him.</p>
<p>Like this, Frederick had one hand free to do what he waited to do, finally lifting up the shirt. It was the only information he had managed to squeeze out from Stanley, that the mark was on his torso. He had a winning smile when he finally saw the first sign of the soulmark only to stop in shock once he saw it fully.</p>
<p>There was a small silence before Stanley asked yet again to be let go, this time feeling the hand freeing his wrists. He immediately went to hide the mark again, even if it was too late and obviously Frederick had seen all of it.</p>
<p>“Why?” suddenly asked his friend, sounding somewhere between confused and hurt. “Why did you try to hide that from me?”.</p>
<p>"Why!" repeated Stanley as if the answer was something overly obvious. "Did you saw how you always run around, having sex with anyone who's whiling to and being unable to keep a relationship for more than a handful of weeks" he explained while pointing out what kind of attitude Frederick had. "And you have the nerve to ask why I, who wished for a soulmate I could grow old with, didn't want to tell you who don't give a damn about soulmates stuff?"</p>
<p>Frederick didn't respond to that, didn't even felt insulted by the way he was putting it. He wasn't seeing it as a critic, he knew Stanley had always been fine with his way of living but he could totally understand where this sentiment was coming from. He wasn't really soulmate material with the way he was acting. He knew that up until now, he had never shown any sign of being able to keep a relationship honestly and without going and see somewhere else pretty quickly.</p>
<p>He had always known that this was something dear to Stanley, he had often teased his friend about it. To Frederick, it all sounded boring and vain to try and find his soulmate, he never understood why people wanted to do that. But, even with his teasing, he had always respected Stanley choice to do so and was even ready to support him fully in his research, help him if needed.</p>
<p>After the initial shock, he finally put back his full attention on Stanley when he believes he heard a quiet sob, seeing that his friend was hiding his face with his forearms. He tried to reach out for him, but only received a sharp "Don't" when the young man felt him move forwards. They were then stuck in an awkward silence, yet again, one trying to mutes his sobs while the other was at a lost on what to do now. For a start he got off the couch, going to sit awkwardly on the floor next to it instead.</p>
<p>“You know...” started Frederick before pausing little, “I know this is something really important to you” he pointed out, although it was something they both knew. “What I'm trying to say is... We can always try it? I mean, the problem is how I flirt and have sex with anyone right? You see... I can try and stop doing that” he tried to suggest while looking down at his hands. “Okay, it might be a little hard to stop my habits and it might take some times but I believe I could manage to do it if I really try to do it” he said, proving he had never actually put any effort in his past relationship. “What do you think about that?”.</p>
<p>He was sounding more sincere than ever, pretty serious about that suggestion. Stanley had always been someone he cared about and he wanted to try and make him happy. He knew it was possible for people to happily live without their soulmate, but he knew it wouldn't be what Stanley wanted and would never make him fully happy.</p>
<p>But now, he was also doubting he could be such a much better situation. Maybe it was exactly for this reason his friend never wanted to tell him. He wasn't believing Frederick could do such a thing and would rather give up on something he had dreamed about. He really wanted to try, but Stanley doubts were making him doubt himself a little too.</p>
<p>He finally stops staring at his hand when he heard his friend mumbling something. "You would?" asked Stanley again, sounding a little hopeful, "Even if you never invested yourself in the past, you would do it now?". Stanley had shifted his position a little, now looking at Frederick, his eyes still wet with tears, yet looking less hurt and more hopeful too.</p>
<p>"Of course" smile softly the playboy, "You are dear to me and I know this is something really important for you, you shouldn't give up so easily because a dumbass like me is your soulmate, I can do it if it means I can see you happy instead of sad and full of regret".</p>
<p>Stanley managed to laugh at that, looking happy that he was really ready to try something like this. He then went for a hug, even if they were not positioned well for one, he needed it now as reassurance he wasn't somehow dreaming about all this. Frederick obligate, moving back to the canape to make it easier to do.</p>
<p>Yeah, he could do it, there was a reason fate decided they were linked after all, they could walk the path together to find it out.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Okay, I know how bad Frederick might look in his actions in the apartment scene, and how it might give the impression consent isn’t something he would follow when it doesn’t go his way, by I swear he’s a good boy who would never break that.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Game of cat and mouse</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Kadir is chasing after Tamir, never able to catch him. But this time! This time he's sure he will do it.</p>
<p>(written in 2017)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The bounty hunter had just entered the old abandoned building, walking through hallways in an attempt to find the demon he was looking for. Kadir needed to check where he was stepping, either so he wouldn't step on glass, not stumbling on something or literally passing through the floor in some places.</p>
<p>After some long minutes to walks and search his attention was brought by a faint sound. It was nearly inaudible if one was human, but he wasn't so he still managed to catch it. He then decided to follow it up until he found the room it was coming from.</p>
<p>The room was big, although looking rather empty. Desks and tables were pushed to the sides of the room with some chairs put on them. They didn't seem really usable, as many were broken, probably previous visitor, or just way to dirty to be really useful.</p>
<p>The only other thing here, other than trash, was sitting with it back facing him. He was sitting directly on the floor, a computer in front of him, standing on a makeshift table make of plank and boxes. The only source of light was coming from the computer.</p>
<p>He had finally found Tamir.</p>
<p>The bounty hunter wasn't there for the bounty put on the person, after all, there was only a handful of hundreds on his head. No. Kadir was trying because he had never managed to catch, even with his multiple attempts and with a lot of motivation. Some were even saying that they had become frenemies, though not many dare to say it to him as he would fight them over it.</p>
<p>The other demon seemed to be listening to some music, so noises wouldn't be betraying him. On the other hand, he would need to hide his presence. At least, the pickpocket seemed to be busy emptying some of the electronic he had probably stolen not so long ago. It would most likely not stay in his hands for long, he would sell it pretty quickly.</p>
<p>Kadir still thought to himself he would need to act quickly because as distracted as the other was, he would end up noticing him at some point. It only took a brief instant before he went for it, only the time to create a small plan in his mind of what to do. This time he was trying to hit a point to knock him out, a thing he never managed to do since the other one had his guard up too much.</p>
<p>So he went for it full of determination and ready to succeed this time. Yet, he was thrown off guard and surprised by something. A voice, sounding a little mocking and that he knew now too well, "You took your time to find me and before finally attacking too, Kadir".</p>
<p>Soon after those words came fire. It had been created between them in a big ball, forcing Kadir to back off if he didn't want to burn himself. He did try to pass next to it, but it was always moving to be in his way, keeping him from going further. It was to say, he was happy to see it finally go away, letting him scan his surrounding to figure out where the other had run off to.</p>
<p>He wasn't hard to find, though it was clear the other one wasn't really trying to hide either. He was crouching down somewhere at the back of the room, finishing to put some stuff his in his bag. Little fireballs were flying around him, both helping him see a little better despite not really needing it and protecting him. When he finished that he looked back up, meeting with the golden eyes of the other, offering him a cocky and mocking smile, only pissing him off even more.</p>
<p>So as it was, he had noticed him from the start? It couldn't be true but it was probably close to it. It was angering him, on one part because he had made him believe he could have a chance for once to get him, on another because he had been discovered that quickly.</p>
<p>The hunter ended up dashing towards him, trying to land a punch. If he couldn't touch him, then he would attack the bag he was carrying. After all, inside was what Tamir would use to make money, so like this, he could manage to make him lose some.</p>
<p>Sadly for him, the other demon dodge easily the attack as if it was nothing. The pickpocket then took his anger and carelessness as a weapon and kicked him in the back, sending him crashing into the table lined near the wall. Kadir turned back to him once he was stabilised, sending him a deadly glare.</p>
<p>Tamir didn't really stay much longer, walking out as he was laughing openly at him. He then started to run, looking for a broken window he could jump out off. As he expected, he could hear soon after that the bounty hunter had started to chase him through the hallway. The pickpocket didn't loss anytime and jump right out when he had the opportunity, landing skillfully on the ground.</p>
<p>He turned back to look at the third floor, already seeing Kadir jumping out from a window towards him. He couldn't stay and stare for too long as the hunter was trying to land another hit on him. He dodged yet again with ease, letting the foot hit the floor violently, creating a hole and cracks at the same time.</p>
<p>He laughed as he was starting to run again, knowing very well he still had the other one tailing him. They continued like this in the city, going through alleyway and rooftop. One laughing at the whole situation as if it was all a game while the other one was cursing against him.</p>
<p>In the end, for the umpteenth time, Kadir had failed to capture Tamir.</p>
<p>Well, maybe next time...</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Night visitor</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Micheal is woken up in the middle of the night by some visitor. Turn out, his best friend is paying him a nightly visit, but not for the reason he would like to.</p>
<p>(written in 2017)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The doctor was slowly walking his way to the door, still half asleep, swearing slightly against the person that was bothering him at such hours of the night. Who was bothering others at three in the morning? And he was finally on vacation and didn't want to be disturbed on the day he could finally relax.</p>
<p>When he got to the door he took a quick look through the window framing the door, trying to see who was there. It only took a couple of second before he reconsigns who it was. Now that he knew who was on the other side, he was wondering why he was there. Micheal was going to find out, as he wasn't planning on letting him wait outside all night.</p>
<p>"Samuel, did you saw what time it is? I was slee-" he started before stopping himself abruptly when he took a better look at his friend. He was looking exhausted, although his usual lack of sleep was often giving that impression. What hit it most was the injuries he seemed to have to his shoulder. He didn't lose time and made Samuel come inside, his irritation from before totally gone, now focus on helping him. He then leads him to his study, which was more of an infirmary than anything.</p>
<p>When they got there, Micheal helped him take off his coat and shirt, even with the protestations of the hitman who claim to be able to do it alone. Once this was done, he prepared himself to deal with his injuries, his priority put on the bullet still in his shoulder. It wasn't the only one though, Samuel seemed to have been caught in a fight with both hands and knives, which was surprising since he was normally really careful in his contract not to be found out for this reason.</p>
<p>All this had woken him up fully, not bothering about sleeping in for the day, his priority put on treating his best friend. “You are lucky, I think I can take it out without too much difficulty” stated the doctor as he was placing his tools near his new patient, “But you will have difficulties with your left arm for quite some time”.</p>
<p>“I'm right handed so it shouldn't be a problem” simply commented Samuel as if it was nothing to him.</p>
<p>"Sam!" snapped Micheal who was starting to work on the bullet, "Be more careful, one day you're gonna get yourself killed!" pointed out the doctor.</p>
<p>“I know” admitted the hitman, “I doubt dying of old age, more likely while doing a contract, or even from a caffeine overdose”. He had never thought he would live old in the first place.</p>
<p>The doctor stayed silent after this statement. He knew very well Samuel had more chance dying while doing his job rather than from growing old. After all, his line of work was pretty dangerous. Also, if he was dying of old age by some miracle, it would most likely be in prison. Even with all this, he couldn't just stop worrying about him.</p>
<p>After some time he was done treating all his injuries and washing the blood. He took the time to observe Samuel, just to make sure he was doing okay. He seemed really exhausted, but it wasn't surprising, he had lost a lot of blood too, but not enough for it to be critical enough to go to the hospital. This was probably making Samuel happy. He then simply suggested for him to go and rest in the living room, like this he could keep an eye on his state and intervene if something wasn't right.</p>
<p>The doctor then left him for the kitchen, saying he was going to prepare something to drink and eat. That how he simply left him, all becoming pretty quiet afterwards. Samuel decided he wouldn't stay for too long in this infirmary that had welcomed him more than once, going for the living room.</p>
<p>He carefully lay on the couch for some time, knowing that if he wasn't trying to relax and rest Micheal would come to scold him some more. The thing was, it was uninteresting to stay like this without doing anything and in total silence, even for him. He started to put some attention on the weirdly too quiet silence, the only sound he could catch coming from the kitchen was the coffee machine working to make some good coffee.</p>
<p>After some time of not hearing anything more, he decided to get up and go for the kitchen and see for himself what his friend was doing. Samuel found him facing the counter, hand grabbing slightly the side of it and unmoving. It was as if he had stopped in the middle of what he was doing. It was something he always does when Samuel was coming back injured, cooking something good for when he loses blood. But now, he had completely stopped what he was doing and something felt out of place to him.</p>
<p>The hitman then took a couple of step towards him, gently placing his hand on his shoulder to get his attention. At that, Micheal jumped slightly, seemingly not noticing him earlier as if he had been lost in his thoughts. Samuel wanted to ask what was wrong, but he didn't really have the time to do so. His friend decided to suddenly take him in his arm, trembling slightly.</p>
<p>He was surprised by the sudden hug, not really used to receive this kind of affective gesture, but didn't push him away either. At some point, he responded to this embrace by looping his valid arm around Micheal. "Is something wrong?" finally asked Samuel.</p>
<p>"I hate seeing you like this" finally said Micheal, his voice more emotional than he would have liked it to be, "I know I can see worst at the hospital, but... when it's you, I-I hate it, it scares me to see you come to my door in such a state".</p>
<p>Samuel didn't really know what to say. Of course, he wasn't surprised that it was worrying his friend, but he never thought it was like this either. "Sorry" he whispered.</p>
<p>“Then be careful!!”</p>
<p>“I promise I will” stated the hitman.</p>
<p>After that, they said nothing more, Micheal apparently satisfied with this promise. He also decided to keep the hug longer, feeling comforted by Samuel warmth. It was proving to him that he was still alive and with him. The other man decided not to move, seeing that it was helping his friend feel better. If it could be comforting for him, he would stay like this all night, he preferred seeing his friend reassured rather than worried. And it was Micheal hugging him, that was why he didn't mind it.</p>
<p>"Are we eating something?" asked Samuel in an attempt to change the subject a little, "I'm sure it would change your mind a little".</p>
<p>This gained him a little smile, his friend agreeing with him. With this, they finally let go of one another, the doctor going back to what he was cooking a little earlier. On the other side, Samuel was going upstairs, leaving to go and get himself a fresh shirt. He was coming often enough, injured or not, that in Micheal room he had half a drawer with his clothes in.</p>
<p>He took a shirt without looking, putting it one, taking a quick look in the mirror. At least this way Micheal couldn't see the bandage and bruises, so it would be easier for him to change his mind.</p>
<p>He then went back to the kitchen, joining Micheal that was nearly done with what he was preparing for them, his mug of coffee already full on the table. He sat down to eat with him when the food was ready, talk with his friend for hours to come.</p>
<p>In the end, Micheal had completely forgotten his plan of sleeping in, seemingly preferring speaking with Samuel for now.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ain't gonna lie i know jack shit about gunshot injuries, I just guessed it would take at least a couple of weeks before he can correctly use his arm but i don't know. Also, i had salad for the meal but i wasn't sure if it was enough so i left it vague. As i said, I don't know about gun stuff nor am i a doctor</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. We are back... sorry for the delay</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jack receives unexpected guests. Yet he's not unhappy of the unexpected, nothing could have made him more overjoyed than that moment he opens the door and saw who was there. </p>
<p>(written in 2017)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: amputation mention</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The young man was waking up to a new day which was probably going to be as long and boring as the previous one. In reality, everything seemed boring since he finally quit the organisation. He was now alone, having lost the two individual he was cherishing the most. Since a couple of months, he had lost his family.</p>
<p>He ended up moving away after receiving the authorisation from his chief. He needed to manage all alone, but even more, he needed to get us to a civil life. At first, it was hard for Jack, but he was getting there slowly. The only thing causing him more struggles was getting along with others and making friends. He had become more of a loner since he came to this country.</p>
<p>It was to say, the scar going over his right eye wasn't here to help, nor all the other spread over his body that could be seen when he was wearing shorter sleeves. He still managed to get appreciated by the regular at his job and by the other people he was studying with and trying to get an official high school diploma after arriving in this country.</p>
<p>Adult school, he had gotten used to those night classes. Sure, this not so legal "army" had one. The thing was, they only learned the basic, since they were mainly trained young to be good agents for the organisation. He had a lot to catch up with, but he had always been good at learning thing so it wasn't too much of a problem.</p>
<p>All this led to him now, bored of everything and unable to find much motivation. The redhead was then just preparing himself for another day of work. A quick morning routine, preparing a small breakfast as he wasn't really hungry, putting on clothes reminiscent of his past, old fashion was hard to lose he guess. And of course, one of the things he never forgets to do, making sure the dogtags dangling from his neck were still there. He never really take them off, yet he fears to lose them and was always making sure they were there.</p>
<p>He was in the middle of slowly eating his bland breakfast when he heard knocking on the door. It was pretty early in the morning, who would be at his door? He sighed, leaving behind his half-eaten meal as he went to see who it was.</p>
<p>He didn't really look into the judas, opening the door directly. Once he saw who was on the other side, he completely froze in his movement. For a second he was sure he was hallucinating or someone was playing a cruel prank on him.</p>
<p>“Are you okay Jacky? You look as if you just saw a ghost” laughed the taller figure in front of him.</p>
<p>"Y-yannis?... Matthew?" finally called out Jack after finally regaining some sense into him. Clearly, he was still not believing what he was seeing. He was probably still asleep and his mind was torturing him right now with false hope.</p>
<p>“Yes, that our name” joked Matthew, getting a chuckle from Yannis next to him. Clearly, he was trying to get more than disbelieve out of their friend.</p>
<p>“But... how? You ... I saw... and they said...” Tried the young man, but never really came with a coherent sentence. Too much was coming to him as to why it was just impossible for them to be there.</p>
<p>The pair could see the confusion and trouble on Jack's face. They could understand where it was all coming from, after all, they were judged dead. Their body had never been found, at least not before they were able to join their group after weeks of going missing.</p>
<p>Matthew gently took Jack hand in his only one, leading him to the canape so they could sit down and talk. Yannis took the job of closing the door and leaving their bags nearby. He also took over the telling of what happened, as he was the one with the clearer memory of what happened back then.</p>
<p>As the ceiling of the place was falling on them, Jack had believed that the two of them had been crush to death. It wasn't the case, in the end, the two young men had been lucky, as a beam had protected them from being crush under everything.</p>
<p>It didn't stop them from being injured. Matthew had his right arm stuck under a lot of debris and ended up heavily injured at that arm as it took a lot of effort to take it out. Yannis had some chemical spilt on the left side of his face, ruining his left eyes completely.</p>
<p>Where they were was a real maze and Yannis isn't sure how he managed to find a nurse office in it, but this is where they settled for the five weeks they were stuck there. He tried to heal their injuries, but it was pretty hard, especially with Matthew going in and out of consciousness. He was lucky to have act quick enough to treat his own wound, cleaning it the best he could and trying to keep it clean.</p>
<p>Matthew wasn't as lucky.</p>
<p>He did try to keep it clean and to make the broken arm heal rightly but it didn't work. It ended up being infected and it got to such a point he feared Matthew would die if he did nothing. It took him a really long time before finally setting down on what he had to do, even if Matthew were to hate him afterwards.</p>
<p>Of course, Matthew didn't like the idea at first, but he understood that his arm was already a lost cause. He ended up cutting his arm, trying to use the anaesthesia he could find, but he might have not us it as it had done jack shit to help Matthew, other than make him feel extremely sick afterwards.</p>
<p>This was something they hadn't touched yet. It was way too fresh and traumatic for both of them and they had a silent agreement that it was still too early to try and go over it.</p>
<p>The underground facility was empty of life other than theirs, all thanks to their team coming in to take care of a group of criminal. At least if they were really doomed, they wouldn't die under the enemy hands. Since Matthew was out of it most of the time, Yannis was the one managing the ration of food and water at the same time as making sure this time the young man wound wasn't getting infected.</p>
<p>Yannis had managed to find a radio, but the reparation he needed to do on it had delayed their rescue. At last, he had managed to contact someone to come and get them, proving they were not dead and actually alive, in really bad shape, but non the least alive.</p>
<p>It took a couple of months for them to be correctly healed under the eyes of specialists. After all, those two big injuries were not the only one, but they had been the most worrying ones. And after those months it took weeks before they could be let go of by the organisation just like Jack did before that.</p>
<p>None of them knew why they never managed to contact Jack to tell him the new, clearly, it would have helped him a lot learning such a thing. It was only adding to the grudges he had against their ex "family".</p>
<p>They all kept quiet after Yannis finished speaking, letting all the time Jack needed to let the information sink in. It only after a couple of minutes that Matthew broke the silence "Would you mind taking us in? I can see the place isn't really big enough for three men, but we don't really have anywhere else to go and we want to stay with you".</p>
<p>The young man looked back at Matthew, somewhat still in disbelieve. “O-of course!”.</p>
<p>Finally, everything sank in and he started to cry of happiness. There was so much in him right now. Happiness, relieve, rage, guilt, more happiness. It was all a mess, but the biggest part was happy and relieved of having them back.</p>
<p>“Why are you crying, aren't you happy?” asked Matthew in a teasing tone. “Oh shut up” laughed Jack, probably the first laughter in a long time “You're crying too”. “No 'am not” tried to argue Matthew even if it was clear he was crying too.</p>
<p>Matthew then went for a hug, soon followed by Yannis too. Jack was holding onto tight as if scared they would suddenly disappear in front of him again. They stayed like this for a long time, laughing as Jack and Matthew were still arguing on who's the crying one.</p>
<p>In the end, Jack called in sick at his job that day, staying home and not leaving his chosen family side.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Not gonna lie a couple of things changed in the translation but the text was old and was bound to have some change especially the storytelling as I change Yannis injuries for a first and how Matthew got his. it also more detail than it was before</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The shock</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Evan gets a worrying call from his brothers and when he finally finds him it too late to do anything. His world falls apart. </p>
<p>(written in 2018)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The young man was standing just there as if he couldn't move anymore. He was in a state of total shock after what he had just discovered, just incapable of reacting. Even the voice in his head ended up asking if he was alright, clearly able to see what he was seeing.</p>
<p>No. He was simply frozen in place, unable to do anything else than looking at the unmoving body of the one on the ground. He had been so alarmed by his brother's sudden call and now he was finding him there, dead.</p>
<p>Evan finally managed to move his body, stepping closer and closer to his twin, or maybe was it the demon forcing him to go forward? He couldn't tell, he wasn't fully there at the moment. He was only wondering how something like this could happen to his brother.</p>
<p>When he arrived next to Ethan, his legs simply gave out under him as he was looking at the injuries done to his twin. The crimson red was staining the favourite white shirt of his brother, clearly having been stabbed in the stomach. He was scared to look more and maybe find more than just a stab wound.</p>
<p>He slowly took in his trembling arms the corpse identical to him. All of a sudden, he just didn't want to believe what was happening. He was simply incapable to believe what was facing him. With a weak and trembling voice, he was calling his brother's name. It was a real contrast with his more confident and flat voice.</p>
<p>"Ethan, wake up, you are not funny now" demanded Evan as his vision was starting to blur under the tears. "You know I hate that kind of joke... Ethan... I beg you, an-answer me! ... you can't just leave me... we promised to stay together!".</p>
<p>His supplications were continuing like this as the tears were flowing down his cheeks, hiding in the crook of Ethan's neck, wrapping the body firmly in his arms. He was desperately calling for his brother. Kuro did try to calm him down but ended up giving up as it was useless to even try, keeping silence for now.</p>
<p>After some minutes, his begging was covered by the sound of sirens from the police and the ambulance coming. He wasn't sure if he was finally losing it or if the demon was messing with him.</p>
<p>Rapidly, the police arrived, taking the task of taking him away from the body as paramedics were going for his brother. The young adult soon started to thrash around, trying to get away from the grip of the officers, yelling for them to leave his twin alone. It took three men to correctly stop and calm him, reducing him to simply begging them.</p>
<p>“Leave him to me... give me back my brother ... don't take him away” he was sobbing.</p>
<p>The fragile young man finally blacked out in their arms, having exhausted himself earlier. Or at least, it what it seemed to be from the outside. Inside, the demon had slowly dragged the human to him, trying to calm him down. He had worked for so long to try and break Evan, yet now that he was in such a state he couldn't do what he had always wanted to do. Not like this. Not when he himself had lost someone dear to him, something he would probably never admit.</p>
<p>Again and again, the weak voice broken by all the screaming was whispering the name of the twin now stuck in the ambulance. The demon was keeping his broken mess in his arm firmly, only responding in a menacing tone:</p>
<p>"Don't worry, I'll find who did this, make them pay for what they did and regret being born".</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Good samaritan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A group of travellers stop at the edge of the town, one of them catch the attention of the impressionable children. The man day brightens quickly when he meets a joyful young man.</p>
<p>(written in 2018)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Many villagers were in the clearing, the older one talking together, keeping an eye on the handful of children playing in the grass at the same time. The others were sitting in a semi-circle in front of a man who had recently arrived in the village. he had arrived with a few other travellers who were taking a break from their trip.</p>
<p>Everything had started when one of the children had asked him what he was reading. He didn't lose time in explaining to him it was the sacred book of his religion. It wasn't long before he started to tell everything, other curious children joining in and asking a few questions even.</p>
<p>Although, the women who were watching him from afar didn't like to hear him tell what they thought was rubbish. Yet, none of them wanted to stop him, after all, these were all just stories. Only when he started on things like purification and the like did one of them intervened.</p>
<p>The children were called back in a little group, far from the man who looked them go without moving from his place. She stopped in front of him, visibly angry with him. She wasted no time to start lecturing him, asserting that he shouldn't spread the stories of a cult in front of their children. She didn't mince her words, calling him a cultist and even threatening to throw him out of their small village.</p>
<p>The long monologue was cut when by a young man. He gently put his hand on the young woman's shoulder, making her jump. A soft smile calmed her down a little, before he speaks softly, “Aya, don't be so harsh on him, everyone has the right to have their beliefs, even if they don't go with yours”.</p>
<p>"But he-" tried the lady, before being gently cut again by the young man calling her name. Obviously, the young man hadn't heard exactly what he was talking about, or even heard it at all. She ended up letting it go, knowing her him well enough to know that she couldn't convince him that this man was shady. She gave a last warning glare at the man before going away.</p>
<p>"I am sorry for my friend reaction, she simply has difficulty with other religion sometimes," softly apologised the young man for her action, "Would you accept this flower as an apology?".</p>
<p>The smaller one then held up a pretty pink flower. The stranger took the flower, his gaze going from the young man to the flower in his hands a couple of times. The warm and innocent smile offered to him by the brunet brought back his good mood that had been spoiled by the young woman earlier.</p>
<p>"He's an angel" suddenly thought the traveller. He couldn't get that idea out of is head. He simply seems so... pure! And innocent. He stared at him like that for a moment longer, before being brought out of his contemplation by the young man tilted his head to the side, seemingly awaiting an answer.</p>
<p>"It's not a problem," he smiled in a friendly way, "Oh! I believe I haven't presented myself" he suddenly jumped a little, "I am Dai". This made the other one smile, "Koseki, happy to meet you" he said.</p>
<p>A comfortable silence then fell between them, only the voice of children farther away filling it. Koseki the pointed to a spot on the ground next to where Dai was sitting. He then asked if he too had the right to listen about his religion. “Of course! I don't mind, I'd be happy to talk about it with someone interested in listening” he quickly answered.</p>
<p>The young man then happily took place next to him, ready to listen. Earlier he had been able to catch some part and had found all of this rather interesting. Dai then started back from the beginning, going over the origin of the world from their point of view. Also telling some of the stories from the sacred text, although with him didn't mention the need for purity and the possible sacrifices. After all, he wasn't looking for what happen earlier to happen again.</p>
<p>He was happy to notice that Koseki seemed genuinely interested in the stories he was telling. A couples dozens of minutes went by and they were still sitting under the shade of a tree, the discussion had shifted to the travelling Dai was doing. The man then admitted having nowhere to pass the night.</p>
<p>“I have an available room in my house,” pointed out Koseki with a smile, “My house isn't young nor big, but it is better than sleeping outside”.</p>
<p>"I'm sure your house is a very cosy one" smiled the man as he was sure it would be good, "Although I wouldn't want to be a bother" he added. "Of course not, I am the one suggesting it, after all, I like helping people" quickly assured the brunet so he wouldn't worry about it.</p>
<p>“If it's all good with you, then I accept the help”. Dai smiled when he saw how happy the young man seemed at the idea of helping him. At least he wouldn't need to pass the night outside and would be in good company. Even Koseki seemed rather happy to have someone around for once. The brunet then gave him some indication as to where his house was, just in case he decided to come over without him showing where it was.</p>
<p>They would have taken their conversation back from where they left it before this sudden suggestion, but a voice stopped them. It was calling for Koseki, catching his attention and turning around, a large smile drawing itself on his face. “Yashiro!” happily called back the young man, “You are back!”.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I decided to come back earlier since I found what I needed rather quickly,” explained the man as he finished walking up to them, “I came to ask if you wanted to help me with the cleaning?”. As he was speaking he was glancing at Dai, his eyes suspicious on him, clearly not trusting him.</p>
<p>Not long after he came back he had stumbled upon the young women who were taking the children back from the clearing. He had been warned by them of Koski being with a shady man, unable to really do anything about it themselves.</p>
<p>In some ways, the hunter understood why they hadn't been able to convince him. Koseki was the kind of person to believe everyone to be good and gentle, despite the reality being far from that. It always needed a lot to convince him and he always ended up being really saddened by that discovery.</p>
<p>He knew that to convince his friend, he would need to find another way to do it. Even if it simply means subtly taking him away from the man. After all, he didn't want for the younger one to get roped up in something like a cult. And it wasn't like the stranger would be staying here forever,</p>
<p>Koseki then turned back to Dai, an apologetic smile on his face. The traveller understood quickly that he wouldn't be graced with his company any longer. Despite being sad to see him go, he forced a smile on his face.</p>
<p>"I can make you visit my house later once I'm finished?" suggested the smaller one with a smile. "Of course, it works for me too, I'll most likely be back in the village once you are done" he agreed, "Can I wait at your house if you are not finished?" he then asked. "Yes, it would be easier like that too, no need to look for each other" smile the other one.</p>
<p>Koseki then stood up, dusting off his clothes. He waved goodbye to Dai, before quickly joining Yashiro with a bright smile on his face.</p>
<p>Dai didn't miss the cold and full of warning glare that was thrown back at him by the hunter. Yet, the man seemed to calm down quickly, his mood lifting upon the younger one starting to talk to him. Dai lost his smile as he watched them walking away.</p>
<p>He didn't like that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I did some minor changes while translating, mainly to make the sentence sound better and less repetitive. The only part that wasn't there in 2018 was the two last sentences about Dai, that was why it was marked as unfinished in my list apparently.</p>
<p>I believe it's because I wanted to go further in the story, where we see more of Dai trying to get Koseki to follow him, but I might write that in a separate story.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. The wedding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A wedding is supposed to be a good and joyful day, yet despite it all, Koseki cannot stop themself from crying.</p>
<p>(unfinished from 2018)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The trio was leaving the post-wedding party earlier than what others would have thought they would. Genji had gone and apologised to Yashiro, telling him their two friends had drunk a little too much and were starting to be sleepy and sick. They could see well where the two other friends were acting father away, clearly not in a state to stay.</p>
<p>"Can you drive?" then ask the newlywed man, not wanting for an accident to happen. "I only drank one glass a couple hours ago" slightly smile Genji to reassure him on his worry, "I was designated to be the driver this time".</p>
<p>Once that was cleared up, they said goodbye, Yashiro wishing them a safe drive back home. The three friends were then all sitting in the car without saying anything. Genji and Yamamoto exchanged a look, before glancing at where Koseki was sitting at the back. They were looking outside the window, a smile still plastered on his face. Yet... the eyes were not matching with the smile.</p>
<p>The one driving ended up clearing his voice, catching the other attention by doing so. Once he had their attention, especially the one he wanted to talk too, he started, “You know Koseki... we are just our three, you don't need to keep up with the facade”.</p>
<p>The smaller seemed taken by surprise, forcing a smile on their face, “I don't see what you are talking about Genji, I'm perfectly fine”. Yamamoto rolled his eyes at the answer, “Are you taking us for blind idiots?” he asked, as it was pretty obvious they were forcing themself.</p>
<p>The silence was back, the two friends looking at each other through the mirror. Bit by bit, the fake smile the smaller one had faded, letting place to tears they had kept in all day long. The two sitting at the front didn't like seeing their friend crying, but it was better than seeing them force themself and bottle everything up inside.</p>
<p>Genji ended up stopping the car on the side of the road, parking it and getting out of the car. He walks around it, going to open Koseki's door, simply opening his arm in invitation. The younger one was already undoing their seat belt, immediately going into his arms to cry.</p>
<p>“D-don't think am not happy for him!” managed to say Koseki between their sobbing, “I am happy for Yashiro” they added. “We know” softly reassured Genji. “An-and the ceremony was really...” they keep trying between sobs, “an-and-”.</p>
<p>They were gently shushed by Genji, so they would stop forcing themself to speak, “We know you are not angry at him, we know why you are crying, don't worry.”.</p>
<p>Soon Yamamoto was the one taking over the comforting, gently petting his hair. He was rather used to it with his many younger siblings, it wasn't too different. After a little while there were back inside the car, Genji back in the driver seat, this time the taller man at the back with Koseki. He was still trying to calm the crying mess that was their friend, still trying to explain themself.</p>
<p>The two older ones knew it would happen. They both knew that the love Koseki had for Yashiro was deeper than one you would have for a best friend. Since their friend had his girlfriend - then fiance and now wife – they had found their friend crying or being really down many times.</p>
<p>Even trough the ceremony, when he was doing his speech has the best man, they could see it. They were good at hiding it because despite really being happy for the newlywed couple, they were still heartbroken. Their tears had a mix of pain and joy in them, although everyone probably saw someone crying of joy. Koseki was a rather emotional person after all.</p>
<p>Their two friends though could see a broken heart through those eyes. They were both really sad to see them like this, despite the happy event. It was a mystery to Genji and Yamamoto as to how Yashiro had never noticed it before.</p>
<p>Well, at least now Koseki could cry as much as they wanted without worrying about what others would think, neither of them would judge them for it.</p>
<p>They all ended up at Genji's apartment, all ready to go to sleep. Koseki didn't seem in the mood to keep talking and was probably still too drunk for that. They had fell asleep once their head hit the pillow, leaving the two other friend to talk a little. They both decided it would be best to take care of the younger one, especially since the following day was most likely not going to be good for them.</p>
<p>▼</p>
<p>Koseki had ended up waking up everyone, by accident obviously. They were sick from all the drinking they did the day before. Yamamoto was also hungover, but not as much since he didn't drink as much. Only Genji was feeling good, due to him not drinking the day before.</p>
<p>After a little while, the sickness was gone, leaving Koseki the chance to shower while Yamamoto was trying to find a hangover remedy. Genji was the only one able to actually do something, preparing breakfast for everyone, something lighter for the smaller one. He was interrupted in his cooking when he heard his phone buzzing, telling him he had received a new message. Without even looking he could guess who was writing to him at such an early hour.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This one I won't finish, as I have no clue where I was trying to go exactly with this one and wouldn't really be able to make it good (also I don't feel like finishing it ┐(￣∀￣)┌ )</p>
<p>You can find on my Tumblr doodling I made about this actually <a href="https://truly-morgan.tumblr.com/post/627981317543542786/so-this-is-a-remake-from-a-little-comic-i-made">HERE</a> and <a href="https://truly-morgan.tumblr.com/post/628162526527488000/a-follow-to-the-wedding-comic-where-koseki-got">HERE</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. First contact</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The first didn't even seem to like America, was noisy, annoying and always making trouble. The second didn't even speak English the first time he was in the class and was not acting like the other boys. The last one was a Tomboy who didn't talk much and was trying to be forgotten in the back of the class. They never interacted with each other before that one group project, all the other kid not wanting them in their team, the teacher putting them together. It took some time, but they finish by getting along, soon being the trouble trio.</p><p>(written in 2019)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There were mixt reactions at the moment in the classroom: happy about the group project, not caring about it and desperate to have to deal with other students. Most were turning happy when they heard that for once their teacher was going to let them make the team. Once the woman finished giving the instructions all student were going to their friend to make a team.</p><p>Well, most student. Three students were left alone at the end, only one bothering to tell the teacher she didn't have a team.</p><p>"Well..." started the teacher while looking at the class "it seems like Viktor and Joshua don't have teammate either". The woman then called them out, telling all three of them that they were going to be together.</p><p>Alexandra then turned in the direction where the boys were sitting, getting more desperate. She really had to work with that trouble maker? And Viktor... She had nothing against him, but he wasn't giving the impression that he wanted to be with them either.</p><p>Well, Viktor knew that it was going to be annoying to work with Joshua, he didn't seem to listen in class or to do his work. He didn't know about... what was her name? Alexandra? He didn't know for her, he almost forgot she was in their class since she was so quiet. He only hoped she could do her job correctly.</p><p>And Joshua? He couldn't care less about who he was with, at the end he didn't have a word to say and both his teammate seem good at school, so it was good to him. He could say he was happy that it wasn't one of those who seem to always enjoy picking on him.</p><p>So they regroup in the corner of the class, at Alexandra desk, no one really talking, two of them reading the scientific subject they could choose, while Joshua was doodling in his book after only one minute. "We could do the weather one" finally suggested Joshua after some minutes of awkward silence between them "Could be interesting to take note of the weather for the next day and do research on that".</p><p>The other two just look at him for some second, before looking at each other. They just agreed, not finding anything bad about that proposition, it could be interesting. It was good that they finally settle on something because their teacher was coming to them, asking what subject they choose. With chance, no one took their subject before them.</p><p>[]--[]</p><p>Alexandra and Viktor were right from the start: Joshua wasn't good at staying concentrated more than five minutes on something. Especially if he was bored by the thing he was doing. They could see he was doing his best to stay focus but always ended up shifting his attention on something else. This is why they finish by letting him create the design for the poster they had to make for their presentation, he seems to find it interesting and was working.</p><p>It was probably the third time they were meeting at the Scottish boy house to try and finish their work. The three kid had to admit, they were surprised to actually like working together. Of course, Joshua was sort of difficult to get to work, but once you find something for him that he could manage to concentrate on, he was surprisingly efficient in his work.</p><p>Viktor had to say that he was happy to see his teammate being patient with him when he was struggling at speaking English to them. Most were just mocking him for not speaking it fluently, even seeming to think he couldn't understand them. He could listen and read well, talking was something else.</p><p>In Alexandra case, she was at ease with them, which wasn't something she often felt around their classmates. Other girls often seem to find her too boyish, while the boys didn't give her a chance either so she could be with them. But with those two? Joshua was the first to propose thing to do without minding that she was a girl. "And what? If you wanna play too I don't see the problem" was the first thing he told her after she asks if he minded her joining them after she gathers some courage to ask.</p><p>So this was probably why they were now working pretty well, going against their first thoughts of this group project. Even with Joshua being a little more slow working, they were going pretty quick, only giving them more time to practice their oral presentation.</p><p>[]--[]</p><p>Two weeks passed since the start of their project and now was the presentation. They were pretty well prepared, all three of them were convinced that they were going to have a good grade for their work.</p><p>But there was still a problem, Alexandra was really stressed by the idea of talking in front of the class, she was so scared of doing something wrong. Of course, the boys were trying to help her relax, saying that they were there to help, they were a team after all.</p><p>So when it was their turn, they went in the front of the class, Joshua starting the presentation, following by the Russian. When came Alexandra turn, she felt like she was going to be sick. She did manage to tell a couple of sentences before she just blocked.</p><p>She startle a little when a hand was patting her back, hearing suddenly the voice of Joshua continuing on what she was supposed to say, as if he had learned by heart what she was supposed to say. She then tried to relax, her trembling hand griping her paper. After some part made by her friend, she started again, still anxious, but less than before.</p><p>She was still happy to go back to her place, her leg feeling like giving out under her. She could only hear Viktor telling her she did a good job. She wasn't convinced, but she did felt proud of herself because of the word both boy were saying.</p><p>At the end of the class, they got their grade and were really happy to have an 'A' for their Job. Even the teacher commented that she had found it good, supposing she was talking comparing to Alexandra and Joshua's old presentations, which were not that great. Either from not having had enough work put into or out of not being able to really finish it.</p><p>Alexandra thought that after their project they wouldn't stay together, that why after school she was ready to go home alone. She was stopped in her track by Joshua yelling her name, running toward her, Viktor walking behind.</p><p>"Where are you going? You're not coming to my place to celebrate our good job" he asked, smiling to her.</p><p>The tomboy look from the redhead to the Russian, clearly surprised. "I... I thought you wouldn't want to hang out with me after the project" she admitted while looking away.</p><p>"Why? I see you as a friend, so you two are stuck with me" he said while smiling, amused by himself. He was not going to give up, he liked her even if she could be pretty shy sometime.</p><p>She looked at Viktor, but the other boy didn't seem to mind the idea of being friends. He did have to admit that he liked the Scottish boy, even if he could be a little too energetic for him sometimes. Same for the quiet girl, when she would talk, she was interesting to listen to.</p><p>Joshua didn't wait for more question or more answer, only starting to walk again, inviting the two other to follow. He did so as if he was expecting the two other to come, pretty confident in that. Well, his confidence wasn't misplaced, because soon enough two other figured were walking next to him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This three were created in my creativity class as a project and I got carried away and now I can't let them go.</p><p>I went a little with something I like from some cartoon, which is when Kid in those shows sometime lives adventure kid their age shouldn't be experiencing or are out of range for them (ed, edd 'n' eddy, gravity falls, Phineas and Ferb are examples of that). So the story might have some crazy feel to it and a sense of "this wouldn't happen in real life" I think.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. When thing aren't as usual pt1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The two demons are fighting just as they usually do. This time, something seems wrong on Tamir's side, but Kadir can't tell what.</p>
<p>(written in 2019)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The pickpocket was having a lot of fun while fighting the bounty hunter, it was just so easy to drive him mad. Kadir was clearly not having as much fun as him since he could barely even get to punch the stupid demon.</p>
<p>He couldn't remember when he stopped fighting him for the bounty and now just to be able to actually win over him. Tamir never really won over him either, he would often just run away after trapping him somewhere or just messing with him until he just disappears to who knows where.</p>
<p>Right now he felt as if the other demon was just messing with him or still underestimating him. After all, he didn't even once use his water or fire controls against him, something he liked to do normally. Even his movements weren't as fast as he could get.</p>
<p>"Stop running away and use your power" shouted Kadir, pissed off that he was going easy on him.</p>
<p>"Why wasting my energy when you are not even more threatening than a kitten" laughed Tamir while jump on top of a fence pole while dodging a kick.</p>
<p>"Tsk". Kadir only backed away from the tall fence, looking at his rival. He took out of his pocket gloves, only hearing Tamir whistling at them "Now we're talking" he said while jumping back on the ground.</p>
<p>He knew those magical gloves, they could summon a big variety of weapons. Kadir did use them a couple of time before when his fists were not enough. Finally, their little game was becoming funnier, even if for him it means to be even more careful.</p>
<p>He was curious to see what was going to summon the bounty hunter. Soon enough a dark sword was creating itself into Kadir hands after he cast a spell to make it work. "Oh~ a classic" hummed Tamir.</p>
<p>It wasn't long before the fight restarted, Kadir just going even faster than he was doing before, using the weapon the best he knew. Using a sword wasn't something he was often doing. Tamir had joined in too, using an old pipe he found near the fallen wall. Thought it was to say, it wasn't as good as the sword.</p>
<p>Yet, still no trace of his actual power, which was only annoying him more. Why wasn't he using them? Was he joking again? Or was he thinking about surprising him?</p>
<p>After some time he got close enough to try and slash him. He did hit Tamir, since he did move fast enough... actually, the demon had a stop in is move just before, his body spasming a little.</p>
<p>Wait... why wasn't the pickpocket moving away now? Kadir moved his eye and take a good look at the blue haired demon, only to freeze right here.</p>
<p>The sword passed through him just above the hip. Why wasn't he moving, it was just a little cut, he had worse before. And why wasn't he trying to heal it, he knew the other demon had some healing power, sure it couldn't do all the job, but it could maybe stop the blood.</p>
<p>He was surprised when a hand grabbed his shoulder, the sword disappearing in little green light as he was trying to help Tamir kneeling to the ground.</p>
<p>"Seem like for once you won" said Tamir with a weak laugh.</p>
<p>"W-Why aren't you trying to heal it?!" He shouted loudly once the shock had passed, "Why did you suddenly stop when I was coming at you, why didn't you dodge it?!".</p>
<p>"Couldn't do" simply answer Tamir.</p>
<p>"What-" he stopped himself when he started to feel something he hadn't caught earlier. It was weak, but here. It wasn't feeling like the other demon's power or presence.</p>
<p>He soon was trying to take off the demon hoodie and shirt "Hey, I don't think I'm in the state to fooling around behind an old building" joked Tamir, but still helping by putting his arms up the best he could.</p>
<p>"What the..." whispered the redheaded demon. The upper body was covered with burn wound and what seems like power seal.</p>
<p>He was going to ask who did that, when panic came back to him when he felt Tamir slowly falling on him, starting to lose it because of the blood loss. "No.... nonononononono, don't you dare dying on me! It's not supposed to be like that".</p>
<p>But he didn't receive any answer, not even a half-whispered smartass one or a weak laugh. He started to think about what he should do, before casting a portal to go back to their dimension, taking Tamir with him.</p>
<p>One of his father could heal him! He had to, he was ready to beg for it. He didn't want to kill him! Or well not when someone else had sealed away all the other demon's power so he couldn't properly fight back.</p>
<p>Yes, they had to heal him. He had to found who did that. He had to make sure they were never going to do that again. He had the save him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Unexpected information</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Our little detective is strolling through the park and help a little girl, only to find out with surprise who is her dad: none other than a gangster he ran into a couple of time.</p>
<p>(written in 2020)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have a really short comic with this two you can found<a href="https://truly-morgan.tumblr.com/post/190267478327/wait-you-have-a-daughter-the-question-hung-in"> HERE </a>on my Tumblr</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“<em>Wait... you have a daughter!”</em></p>
<p>The question hung in the air as the girl was gently looking from her dad to this stranger. She didn't know the nice man who helped her get back her kite from the tree earlier was someone her father knew. She would suppose a friend, but her dad didn't have many friends and all of them were probably criminal too.</p>
<p>Daniel was still shocked from when the little girl he helped not so long before had gone back to mobster as he was calling for her. The cold man had a daughter? And he never found out about it in all the information he had gathered about him over the last couples of years? How could he have missed that?</p>
<p>Jasper sighed as he took out from his mouth the unlit cigarette, passing a hand through his already neatly placed hair. He really had better to do from his evening than to run into the overly optimistic detective. It would also have been better if he could have kept the existence of his daughter a secret from him. Not that he was scared he would harm her, he clearly wasn't the kind to hurt a kid, but it was still a piece of information he would have kept to himself.</p>
<p>"Yes" he kept his answer short, not wanting to waste to much time with him. After all, it was time for them to get back home so his daughter could do some homework while he was making her supper. He could see this answer wasn't enough, but he wasn't going to tell the man his whole life story if he really wanted to know he would have to search for it.</p>
<p>"You know the nice man?" asked the little Kelly as she stayed by her father's side, looking up at the tall man. The detective was surprised, not sure if he was just imagining things or if the criminal expression had slightly softened as he looked down at his girl.</p>
<p>"We did meet a couple of times in the past" even if a couple of times were actually a lot of time, he had stopped counting how many times they accidentally bump into each other while they were working. He could hear the detective repeat under his breath "a couple of times" as he chuckled to himself, having lost track of how many times they did cross path too.</p>
<p>"So you are not a friend from my dad?" she asks as she turned to the detective, curious about the relationship this nice man had with his father. "Well, I doubt your dad see me as a friend" simply respond the detective, a little laugh escaping his lips. "We are closer to acquaintances" even if acquaintances aren't keeping information on each other and fighting each other all the time.</p>
<p>He suddenly crouched down, so he could be at her eye-level, sticking out his hand so she could take it. "But it is still really nice to meet you young lady, the name Daniel Landry" he smiled as he presented himself. He doubted really seeing her again, but it was still nice to meet her.</p>
<p>She brightly smiled back before gently grabbing his hand to shake it. “Kelly Hyde, nice to meet you” she laughed. After that he got back up, looking at the time on his watch, apparently surprised by what time it was.</p>
<p>“Well, I need to go now or I will be late for something, I hope you have a nice end of the day” he said as he was waving at them, walking away quickly. “Bye bye mister Landry” waved the girl, her dad simply looking at the figure walking away from them.</p>
<p>He gently patted his daughter hair, turning in the opposite direction "It time to get home too" he said in a voice that would probably have surprised the optimistic man by its gentleness. The little girl nodded happily, grabbing her father's hand before following him back home.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. He fucked up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Kyosuke snap. Akainu knows it's his own fault.</p>
<p>(written in 2020)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: suicide attempt, forced injection</p>
<p>I was inspired by the song <a href="https://youtu.be/znHtGpCAfGY">Little lion man</a> for this text.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everything had come like a surprise to the older man, somehow as if he had forgotten Kyosuke was a human too and had his limits. Never would he have thought they would get at this point, he had forgotten for how long Kyosuke had to put up with all this. He had been so caught up in all his work, he had forgotten how young Kyosuke was.</p>
<p>He had fucked up everything, it was all his fault, he should probably have seen it coming.</p>
<p>That surprised came when he went to check on the young man. The door hadn't finished closing behind him that he was greeted with a chair being trowed at him, dodging it at the last second. He was sure Kyosuke simply had one of his psychotic phases, that he would be able to calm him down before he could hurt anyone or destroy anything. It always had been his objective in those times, trying to hurt as many people as possible and trying to escape.</p>
<p>He was taken by surprise when he felt the telekinesis use his power to slam him against the wall, knocking the air out of him. He was soon pinned down to the ground by the test subject, still a little out from his head hitting both the wall and the floor. The young man searches his coat lab pocket for something, flying away from him once he found what he was looking for.</p>
<p>Akainu sat up, surprised to be left this quickly by him, expecting him to beat him up or something. What could he have been looking for? The scientist frown when he got his answer as he was looking at him, seeing Kyosuke holding a scalpel, he really should be more mindful of what he was carrying on him when he was getting in a test subjects room.</p>
<p>Some alarm went on in his head, realising immediately something was wrong. In his state, Kyosuke would have tried to kill him. It wouldn't have been the first time and most likely not the last. So why didn't he tried?</p>
<p>That when he met the younger eyes, something was off, they didn't have the fire they normally had. They were looking tired, they were looking done.</p>
<p>"Kyosuke, what are you doing" he then asked, seeing the younger one rolling up his sleeve, staying away from him as much as possible. He looked back up at him, a desperate look in his eyes, a forced grin on his lips. "Oh, I finally found how I could get out of here" he responds. Akainu didn't have the time to ask, the medical tool already slicing on his arm.</p>
<p>Panic bloomed in the scientist, jumping on his feet, running towards the younger man. It was hard, as Kyosuke was throwing everything in the room at him with his power, pushing him away. But with more wounds, less effective it was, as the pain was drowning his mind. This is the only reason why Akainu could get to him.</p>
<p>He quickly grabbed his hand, stealing away from him the scalpel and throwing it away. It was hard pinning Kyosuke down as he was fighting and screaming at him to let go. He had snapped, he couldn't take any of this anymore and wanted to get away. But of course, this wasn't something the scientist would allow to happen.</p>
<p>At some point Akainu had to inject tranquiliser in him, feeling the body slowly going limb under him, Kyosuke still crying from all the emotion. The man was gently shushing him, whispering words of reassurance, trying to calm him as he was desperately trying to stop the blood.</p>
<p>He had quickly called for some backup, needing to take care of those wounds. In all the chaos of people coming in, he could still hear the telekinesis faintly begging for him not to do that, but he didn't listen.</p>
<p>He was carried in an urgency room, Akainu taking over the work, ordering people around for what he needed. Cleaning and closing the wounds wasn't too hard, the problem was the number. A great chance they had some product they had developed to stop the bleeding. He would have work faster, but panic and fear of losing him was slowing him down, which was also annoying him. But at last, he manages to take care of everything. The test subject was saved.</p>
<p>He was then transferred in a room with nothing but white padded wall, a bed bolted to the floor and his blood perfusion which was suspended from something bolted on the wall. He was also restrained to the bed, just to make sure he wouldn't try anything once fully back. He shouldn't be able to hurt himself like this.</p>
<p>Akainu had stayed once the last staff member had left, no one wanting to be around the scientist after something like this. They all knew better than to stay around when Akainu was unstable. He went next to the bed, letting himself fell on the padded ground, his back leaning on the bed frame, heavily sighing. This had been tiring, he was getting old.</p>
<p>He could still smell the blood, has he didn't even take time to change his bloodied clothes. The only clean place was his hands, as he needed them clean to work. He should probably go to his office and change, but he was too tired to do so and needed to make sure Kyosuke would be fine.</p>
<p>"Why did you stop me?" came a whisper behind him. He turning to face the tired subject, his eyes holding in anger and defeat. "Why?" he repeated again.</p>
<p>The scientist laid his head on the bed, still facing him. "Because I can't lose you" he responds without thinking, this was his honest response. He receives a scoff for his honesty, as if he wasn't believing him. "Yeah, I'm a guinea pig you can't afford losing? Or maybe the old man would kill you if I died" he commented. Of course, he would think it was in that way, though it was fair to think like this.</p>
<p>“No, you are just important to me, I don't want to lose you” explained the older one, this time gaining a frown and tear slowly building in the corner of Kyosuke eyes. “Fuck you” he said, his voice tight from holding in his tears. “Fuck you and die you liar”.</p>
<p>Akainu sigh, he was used to being sworn at and asked to die, at this point it was normal. He instead changed subject by asking why HE did it. "I told you, I want to get the fuck out of here" said the young man, tear rolling down his face.</p>
<p>He then went on how he couldn't take any of the test made on him. That he couldn't keep on living like this. That he wasn't even allowed to see anyone other than people who didn't give a shit about him. That he couldn't keep up with all the expectation put on him, as if he was nothing more than a guinea pig. That he couldn't keep up with all the torture he was put through. That he just wanted to end this. How he hated this place. How he hated all the people in here. How he hated himself. How he hated his messed up mind. Everything was just too much now.</p>
<p>Kyosuke had stopped in his rant, looking at the man, confused. “Why the fuck are YOU crying?” he asked harshly but overall extremely confused. Akainu was just as confused, straightening up to sit correctly, realising he was, in fact, crying. Maybe it was too much hearing him state all that was wrong. Maybe it was too much hearing the normally energetic and joking young man telling he hated himself and just wanted to die.</p>
<p>A chuckled escape Akainu's lips, confusing the young test subject even more, whipping away his tears. “I don't know” he admitted, putting his glasses back up, glancing at Kyosuke with a tired and sad smile. “I'm sorry about everything” he whispered as he looked away.</p>
<p>He wasn't expecting forgiveness, he knew he didn't deserve it. He wasn't a good man. He knew he couldn't get him out of there. He knew everything would most likely get back to what they were before. He knew that even if he promised him that thing would get better, things wouldn't. At least not for Kyosuke.</p>
<p>He could remember the first time they met, how Kyosuke seemed to like him and trust him blindly. He was just a kid at the time after all and nothing more than observation was made on him. He was trusting him so much since he was the nice nurse bringing him sweets and taking care of him. He was so innocent at the time.</p>
<p>Then they became scientist and test subject. Kyosuke had grown to be a rebellious teenager, always trying to make his life harder than it should be. They had a sort of hateful yet friendly relationship, he wasn't sure what it was. He just knew he had a fire in himself burning, ready to annoy Akainu as much as possible.</p>
<p>And here they were now, Akainu covered by Kyosuke blood, both tired and reaching a final breaking point, even if they were different points. One was a middle-aged man, overworked and maybe under stress all the time even if he wasn't feeling it. The other was a young man in his early twenty, tired of his life and already ready to die. What a great duo they were. They were both missing the old time when everything was doing fine.</p>
<p>“I really fucked this up, didn't I?” asked Akainu, a ghost of a nostalgic smile on his lips as he was thinking about how things were at the beginning. “Yeah” scoffed Kyosuke, turning to look back at the man “But you're not the root of the problem” he said, something deep in him still wanting to reassure him. Boy was he messed up for wanting to reassure him even after all this.</p>
<p>"True" admitted Akainu, his hand slowly replacing Kyosuke hair. "Your old man will be the death of us" he whispered, knowing well neither of them could get out of there. This seems to make the other one laugh, as it was something he already knew, saying "Tell me something I don't know".</p>
<p>They were doomed to die here and he was fucking everything up when he could at least try to make thing better for both of them. He always has had the younger man life in his hand and he hadn't taken care of it, instead, he ruined it even more.</p>
<p>"I could find a way to get us out of here and try to survive outside" he suggested even if one could already tell he was set on trying to do that. He was tired to live like this, as much as he loved doing experiment all he wanted, he was still just a puppet, as much as he didn't want to admit it. It was a hard task. It was a dangerous task. It would be really hard to hide after.</p>
<p>His motivation grew stronger when he could see a flame building back in the young man eyes. Yeah, he should at least try that.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Cheesy pickup line</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Hayato as a crush on a girl, but he's bad at flirting.</p>
<p>(written in 2020)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The trio was sitting at a table a little farther from the front counter, one of the young man trying to point discreetly at one of the waitresses. The discretion was somewhat lost when the two other didn't really try to hide they were looking at her, turning their attention back on the poor teenager begging them to be more subtle.</p>
<p>"I can see why you didn't want to let us come here before, she's really charming" admitted Masahiko with a smile. She wasn't his type, but he could totally see why Hayato seemed to have fallen for the cute barista.</p>
<p>The young man tried to put aside the teasing, turning towards Haru instead, as if expecting some kind of answer from him. Haru didn't really know what to answer, girls were not exactly his cup of tea. "She's cute, she seems nice too" he responded with a gentle smile, leaving out the teasing he could have come up with since his friend seemed not very confident about himself in this situation.</p>
<p>This seemed to appease the teenager a little, somewhat happy to see the two other thinking she seemed nice too. He wasn't really confident enough to go and talk to her for more than ordering something to drink. He was good at pissing off people in fights, at arguing with others and not shutting up when asked by a teacher, but he was never good at talking with girls he developed crushes on.</p>
<p>"Try and talk to her a little more" suggested Masahiko, "If you see she doesn't seem interested you can just leave it there, I'm sure you come here often enough that she recognises you". Hayato didn't seem sure about that, he wasn't that outstanding that someone would remember his face easily. To help him a little Masahiko gave him his empty glass, a smirk plastered on his face "I finished my coke, can you go and get me another one?". "If you go, bring me some cherry cake too" asked Haru as he was slowly drinking his milkshake.</p>
<p>Hayato couldn't believe they were doing this to him but ended up getting up anyway, taking the empty glass with him to put on the return counter. He anxiously waited in line, throwing some glances towards the two others who were silently cheering for him. Once he got in front of the register he ordered and paid, feeling like he should just not try, but one last glance at Haru and Masahiko giving him thumbs up gave him the courage he needed.</p>
<p>"Can I help you with something else?" the young woman asked, seeing he wasn't moving to take his money. This threw Hayato in a panic, trying to find something to say, even if it was a cheesy pickup line, anything would be better than awkward standing in silent.</p>
<p>"I've seen you many times, do you come here often?".</p>
<p>The barista seemed a little surprised, before an amused smile drew itself on her lips, Hayato needing a little more time to process what he just said. When he fully realised his stupidity his face grew red, laughter coming from somewhere on his left. He quickly grabbed the cash and pulling over his hood in an attempt to hide as he escaped for their table, wishing the ground could just eat him up already.</p>
<p>He was still hiding inside his hood, head low as the two others were dying of laughter right beside him. "I've seen you many times, do you come here often" repeated Masahiko, trying to calm his laugh as other costumers were now looking at them "I hope she does, she works her!". "Shut up, I panicked okay".</p>
<p>The young men were trying to calm their laughter, both still repeating the pickup line that was already pretty cheesy, but even more hilarious in this situation. When they finally calm down, Hayato finally looked back at them, face still red even if his blushing had calmed down "I won't come back again, I can't show my face here ever again, this is so lame, she must think I'm weird and dumb now" he whined.</p>
<p>“Here's your order”</p>
<p>He jumped when he saw their tray being gently put on the table, looking up at the waitress from earlier smiling kindly at him. He was too embarrassed to say anything, Haru deciding to help him a little since he couldn't speak anymore. "Thank you for bringing it to us, I bet our friend forgot to take the order number". This made her chuckle a little, as she showed them the coupon, putting it on the table too.</p>
<p>She then turned back to Hayato who couldn't look at her directly. "I indeed come here often, but I think I've also seen you around, do you come often?" she asked, teasing him a little with an amused smile. This only made the teenager blush harder, not sure what to answer. "He does and he seems to really like this café" responded Masahiko when he saw their friend was somewhat frozen there.</p>
<p>This made her chuckle again, her smile just as warm as before, “Then I hope I can see him around in the future” she commented before leaving them.</p>
<p>They stayed in silence for a couple of seconds, Haru gently patting Hayato's back while he was grabbing his cake "You see, she does want to see you again". The young man mumbled for him to shut up, grabbing for his drink and sipping at it, his friends still teasing him about it before they finally start talking about something else.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Nightmare brings revelation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Alexy is woken up from his nightmare by Kassandra. It has been a common thing since he came to live with her family after his father died. The dead man is always the main villain of the nightmare, replaying old abuse. Though, that night, she didn't expect to learn that physical and mental abuse were not the only thing his friend went through.</p>
<p>(written in 2020)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: mention past child abuse, mention past sexual abuse on teenager</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kassandra was simply passing by the guest room to go and get herself some water when her ears caught some mumbling coming from the room. She left out a silent sigh, already guessing what it was, before gently knocking on the door. Upon not hearing any response for her, yet still hearing mumbling, she silently opened the door to take a look inside. Without many surprises she found her friend mumbling plead to stop in his sleep, seemingly stuck in a nightmare yet again.</p>
<p>She went to Alexy bedside, trying to gently shake him away. Even if she acted with all the care she could to not startle him, he still woke up in a jump, his panicky eyes darting around the room, seeming not to recognize where he was. Only when his eyes locked on Kassandra did it seem to dawn on him where he was and only then was he able to relax a little.</p>
<p>But soon tears that were already hanging heavily at his eyes started rolling down. He broke down into a sob, repeating sorry over and over as if he had done something bad. She went to sit next to him, gently rubbing his back, trying to explain he didn't need to apologise to her. She couldn't possibly guess why he was saying sorry, but she felt like even Alexy couldn't give her a clear answer on the question.</p>
<p>Kassandra was reassured to hear he did stop apologising to her, but confusion and worries rapidly came back when his messy mumblings were now about "being dirty", "not worthy of a friend" and other really worrying statements. She felt like something was off, she couldn't understand where those sudden affirmations were coming from as it had never been something Alexy said before. She tried to reassure him again, but this time it wasn't as effective as before, only receiving "you don't know" as a response.</p>
<p>“It all because of what he did, he was right, him dirty and not worthy of anyone” cried the young man.</p>
<p>The young woman was at a lost as to what she could say to calm him down, not sure where all this was coming from. What was his dream about for him to bring back those words of him being dirty and unworthy of anyone? "What your father did to you doesn't make you dirty or unworthy, don't believe his words, you know they are all lies".</p>
<p>Yet, she was still met with "you don't know" and "you don't understand". She then admitted she might not understand, but she still affirmed that she was standing by what she said. He wasn't dirty and he wasn't unworthy of people. She then asked carefully that, if Alexy was okay and ready to go there, he could tell her what she didn't know or understand.</p>
<p>She first thought she might not get an answer, which was also fine, she knew it was probably something hard to talk about. She was going to drop it and try to help him calm down again when Alexy started to talk again. "You would leave me if you knew, you would also believe I'm dirty" he stated, making a bad feeling slowly creep up inside Kassandra. "All he did to me, I... I was too weak and too scare to fight back, I'm dirty from his touch".</p>
<p>Alexy glanced at her, his teary eyes expecting rejection, prepared for the worse. He didn't explicitly say what his father did, but she could guess. And this guess made her even more infuriated towards this man who died before paying for all the abuse he had put Alexy through in the past decade. She was enraged someone would do such a thing and never pay for what he did, she felt like him dying was just too simple, quick and easy for all of what Alexy went through.</p>
<p>"No, it doesn't make you dirty Alex" she gently but firmly said, not wanting for him to spiral down a self-deprecating path right now. The young man seemed to still not believe her words, yet something in his eyes was hopeful, wanting and ready to believe her.</p>
<p>A silence came after that, both of them staring at each other. The young lady slowly opened her arm, inviting Alexy like she always did to reassure him. She never tried to hug him by force, too afraid it would bring back bad memories and now could probably be even less wanted. He seemed a little hesitant at first, as if his thoughts of earlier were still heavily weighing in his mind, but went for the comfort of her arm.</p>
<p>He knew she would do nothing to him. He was trusting her. He really wanted to trust her and believe her every word.</p>
<p>“He won't come back?” he suddenly whispered while hiding against her shoulder.</p>
<p>"No, he won't. Not now, not ever in the future" she responded, holding him while gently rubbing his back.</p>
<p>“I'm safe here”.</p>
<p>"Yes, you are safe here, nothing will happen to you here" she stated. She wouldn't allow anyone in her house to do anything to him.</p>
<p>They went back and forth over questions and statements like these, Alexy often coming back over some. Each time Kassandra would answer, each time she would reassure him he was safe here and that he didn't need to worry about his father.</p>
<p>It was only early in the morning that Alexy fell asleep from exhaustion. He was trill keeping a grip on Kassandra, as if afraid she would leave him after what he told her. She stayed, only moving a little so she could lean on the wall while Alexy was leaning on her. She still couldn't get back to sleep.</p>
<p>It was something to digest. She couldn't believe she never notices in the couples of months she knew Alexy while his father was alive or will going to school together. Well, he probably tried to hide it even more than the beating he was receiving. Still, she was upset at herself for never really noticing both and trying to help Alexy. She really wanted to help him, but she felt like this was beyond what she could help with. She wasn't a professional after all, but she for sure wouldn't give up her support and would try her best.</p>
<p>She finally fell asleep when the sun was going up in the sky, still not letting go of Alexy.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I SWEAR I’m working on making life better for Alexy after probably 5 or 6 years of making him suffer non stop. But trauma is hard to go through and everyone needs to start somewhere. For better context, I never did anything good for him up until a couple of months ago where I went "okay, angst is nice to go over, but now I want to see him heal".</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Coffee and hot cocoa on a rainy night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Samuel was only doing his job when he miscalculated some things and end up stuck with a kid in his target house. He simply wants to leave the kid to an orphanage, but the small child seems to have another idea. </p>
<p>(written in 2020)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Set in a futuristic world a la cyberpunk where the gap between poor and rich is even greater, cyber implantation is a common thing to do and robot are everywhere.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The somewhat silence of the night had been disturbed by screaming and thrashing around in one of the fifth-floor apartments. No one gave it more thought, they all had greater problems to mind and that couple had it coming.</p>
<p>Then two gunshots were heard. The silence was back.</p>
<p>Samuel sighed, closing his eyes as he was taking in the silence. At last some silence, he hadn't expected for the couple to be this loud. He was sure he even heard some lady scream for them to shut up, but he couldn't be sure, he had been more focus on not getting hit by what was thrown at him. This had been more troublesome than what he would have thought.</p>
<p>After some time he opened back his eyes, putting the gun in his pocket before taking out an old disposable camera. No need for those fancy technologies, this was doing just fine to take in evidence that his job was finally done.</p>
<p>He was taking his last picture when a sound made him turn around quickly, ready to defend himself. All he found was a kid, probably not older than 8 or 9, poking his head from behind the door to what he assumed was a bedroom. He didn't fully let his guards down, but still didn't really saw the kid as a threat, at least for now.</p>
<p>"Are mama and daddy gone up there?" shyly asked the kid, his eyes trying not to go towards the lifeless body of his parents. He might not be old, but he could understand that his parents were no more. Strangely, he didn't seem that disturbed by the scene, as if it wasn't really the first time he witnessed such a thing. Well, Samuel wouldn't be surprised if there had been a dead body here before with the kind of business the dad was running.</p>
<p>“hmm” simply responded Samuel, looking at the kid still hiding behind the door.</p>
<p>What was he supposed to do now? His investigation didn't tell him there would be a kid too, how bad had those parents been taking care of that kid for him to completely miss his existence? He then sighed heavily, annoyed that such troubles were coming his way. It wasn't in his principal to kill children, they were not his target and had most likely never anything to do with whatever the reason was given to ask for someone to die.</p>
<p>"Do you have a bag?" flatly asked Samuel to the kid. He received a nod for responses. "Then go pack your things, I'll lead you somewhere" he simply ordered.</p>
<p>The kid was quick to follow his order, leaving what he could now see as a dirty bathroom for what he assumed was his room. Samuel was making sure he didn't leave anything behind that could really trace back to him, although he doubted the police would put much effort into solving the crime in such a place of the city.</p>
<p>After some rummaging around the kid was out of his room with a worn-out small duffel bag. It was apparently full to the brim, but it was still not a lot of thing for a kid, but Samuel didn't really care, where he was leading him he knew things would get better for the kid. The child must have seen the weather as he was already wearing an old raincoat and a rain hat. At least they were not the obnoxious yellow colour many were, they seem to be blue marine. At least they wouldn't be too visible in the night.</p>
<p>Samuel simply took back the umbrella he had placed near the door and went out, barely making a sign for the younger one to follow him. It was really annoying, he would have to make his trip longer before finally managing to go home.</p>
<p>The hitman had to quickly look back on his phone where the nearest orphanage was. He knew there was one nearby, as he heard it was common for them to take in children, whether their parents were dead or not. Samuel wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people around there were not the best at raising their kids.</p>
<p>The kid was following closely behind him, seeming to not be afraid of him and probably even trusting to some point. Samuel wasn't minding him, only ready to get rid of him as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>The trip was indeed pretty quick, arriving at the orphanage after maybe a dozen minutes of walks. The man was standing down the couple of stairs, turning to the kid as if waiting for him to go up. Yet, the young child never did, only looking up at the building. “What are you waiting for? Go up” simply said Samuel in a flat tone.</p>
<p>Again, the small one did as he was told, carefully running up the stairs. Once at the top he looked back at the hitman, as if waiting for him the asks something else. Other commands never came as the cold man simply turn back and went away, leaving him in better hands.</p>
<p>At least, it what he believed at first.</p>
<p>After some time of walking, he heard running noises behind him, causing him to look back. He saw a small shadow quickly hiding behind a trash can. He took a couple more step and the footstep restarted. He then looked back again, the small figure this time was trying to hide behind a line pole, even though it wasn't really a successful attempt.</p>
<p>Samuel ignored it at first, going for the place of rendez-vous by taking some alleyway, thinking he would lose the boy or that he would give up. He had tried to help him once, now if he was lost it was his own fault. It was his good deed of the month.</p>
<p>When he was at the meeting place with one of the messengers he thought he had finally lost him, which was better, it wasn't really good for a kid to follow him around like that. He gave the hooded person the camera, only exchanging a couple of words about how thing went and when should the payment pass through before parting way.</p>
<p>The man thought he could finally go get some coffee before heading home when he heard yet again the quick running step behind him. He sighed, surprised the kid had kept up with him. Yet, he kept on ignoring him for now, walking towards what was normally a busy street in the day, waiting at the door for the little footstep to join him.</p>
<p>He looked down at the small child that was looking back at him with a shy smile. Really, this child had no sense of self-preservation, following the man that had just killed his parents. Yet, Samuel couldn't really bring himself to use force on him to scare him away, as it would break a promise he made in the past.</p>
<p>He sighed before closing his umbrella and entering the small café. The child seemed to take this as an answer and followed in closely by Samuel's side, walking to the counter.</p>
<p>The waitress behind the counter looked at them, a weird look on her face at this pair. Samuel simply ignored that, not even looking at the menu. “One large black coffee” he simply said coldly, already getting his wallet out. His cold tone made the waitress a little uneasy, ready to finish the transaction as quickly as possible so she wouldn't have to deal longer with this scary man.</p>
<p>"Do you have hot cocoa?" asked the small child while trying to poke his head above the counter to look at the lady behind. "Yes, we do" respond the waitress with a smile. "I want one! ... please?" exclaimed the kid, looking back at Samuel for permission. The young lady was also looking back at him, waiting for an answer but it never really came. All she saw was him getting more cash out, so she assumed it was a yes and made him pay. To be rid of them as quickly as possible she went to make to hot cocoa as the robot helping behind was taking care of the coffee, just so it would be quicker.</p>
<p>The weird pair then went to sit in a booth near the window, sitting in front of one another. As the child was warming himself up with his beverage Samuel took a better look at him. No wonder she had such a weird expression on her face, this kid seems to have a couple of bruises. Samuel wasn't the most gentle looking guy, so she must have assumed it was his fault. Also, this little guy seemed kind of malnourished too, he wasn't skin and bone, but clearly, he didn't have three meal a day either.</p>
<p>They were silent, the child enjoying his hot cocoa as he was looking at the drop of rain crashing on the window next to them. Samuel really had no idea what to do now. Why was that kid following him? From experience, he didn't have a really approachable aura and was often said to look scary and cold. Also, he wasn't fit to take care of a kid.</p>
<p>After some time of thinking and drinking his coffee, he ended up taking out his phone, calling his friend. It took him at least four times before he picked up, but it wasn't surprising as it was probably already late in the night.</p>
<p>“Sam why are you always calling me in the middle of the night, can't you act like normal people and call in the day” complain sleepily the doctor on the other side of the line.</p>
<p>“How do I treat a kid” simply asked Samuel.</p>
<p>Silence was his first answer and he felt like he should probably have worded his question differently. “You didn't shot or killed a kid, did you?” Finally asked Micheal on the other side, making Samuel roll his eyes. As if he would make such a mistake.</p>
<p>“I told you I wouldn't do such a thing, you know I keep my promise”.</p>
<p>"Not when it comes to your own well being" affirmed the man on the other end, clearly still angry at that time a couple weeks ago when he got back to him injured. "But you lost me there, why would you need to know how to treat a kid?".</p>
<p>"There's one who won't stop following me around and he seems to have some injuries, though it would be good to have you check him" admitted Samuel, only confusing his friend even more.</p>
<p>"Wait... are you planning on taking care of him? Or are you going to dumb the responsibility on me? If so I can't really do that" warned the man, not believing his friend would actually take a kid under his wing.</p>
<p>"Just for some time, I'll find somewhere to leave him or he'll run away after finding out I'm not a good replacement for his shitty dad" simply explained Samuel. He couldn't really believe himself he was doing that, but he was really feeling like the kid would keep on following him anyway and he wouldn't use force on him either.</p>
<p>"Who are you and what did you do with my best friend" suddenly laughed the man on the other side, apparently amused at the idea and still not believing him. Samuel simply scoffed at his joke, even if a ghost of a smirk was present on his face for a couple of seconds. "Okay okay, just..." started the doctor before taking a pause to think "bring him to me in the morning, I'll take a look at him and we will talk a little more about your new dad job" simply said the man.</p>
<p>Samuel rolled his eyes again at the mention of it being his “new job”, still agreeing, finding it more convenient that way. Like that Micheal hung up to go back to sleep, Samuel putting down his phone to look back at the kid.</p>
<p>The child had a smile on his face, having apparently been listening to him the entire time. He seemed happy that the man was taking him along with him. The hitman sighed a little, drinking some coffee to help him a little before finally asking for the kid name. "Edmund Blake" responded the kid.</p>
<p>Samuel simply hummed at his response, saying the name in his mind. "You can drop the Blake, it will be better for you later I think" simply commented the man. Less connection to his parent was meaning less chance of him to be traced down to them. Also, it would be easier to give him a new surname once he found him a new family. The kid simply nodded at that, as if going for all he was saying. "Edmund" he simply repeated as if responding to the question for the first time. "What is your name, mister?".</p>
<p>Samuel kept silence for a couple of second, thinking it over. He had many aliases, but he didn't felt like giving one to this kid would be necessary and Micheal would probably slip up if it was just a kid. Also, there wasn't really any chance for Edmund to cause him problems, plus Samuel wasn't a really original and unique name. "Samuel" he simply said before drinking some coffee again. This gained him some giggle, the kid apparently happy to have learned his name. What a weird kid.</p>
<p>And like that they were back to some silence, looking outside at the holographic board still up in the street, the rain still pouring down on the others side of the windows. He hopes it would calm down when he would need to go and meet with his friend.</p>
<p>Really, what a night, nothing had gone as planned and had caused him more trouble than anything else. He had hoped to go home quickly, apparently, it wouldn't be the case.</p>
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